>> the susan rice contrast is a very interesting one for a number of reasons. one of them is that susan rice technically took herself out of contention but there was a perception that she had been abandoned by the white house. whereas chuck hagel, a ton of people not only on the political right were raising objections to hagel and yet the white house hung tough on behalf of hagel which is very telling, i would suggest. i think when you're looking at senator kerry and senator hagel, you are looking at two people who served as mentors to president obama when he first entered the senate, with whom he feels he has a shared world view. let's not forget that president obama had been praised for his team of rivals, that his having diverse voices, when he first came into office, so there's a question of whether or not he's stepping away from that. rosa brooks hasn't just talked about diversity and representativeness in the cabinet. she has also talked about deeper problems with president obama's national security team and his national security approach. i wonder if thi